Beacon

Construction waste generated

189 kg of waste materials – 8% of the total waste on site - were diverted from the local landfill using this sorting process.  The relatively small percentage diverted reflects the difficulty in providing easy, practical landfill diversion solutions for many waste products, particularly plasterboard and concrete. Despite concerted efforts to make waste sorting and recycling easy, large amounts of waste were generated on site, including concrete from the roof, waste timber, packaging, and contractors’ waste (drink bottles, lunch wrappers). 

The total amount of waste generated on the Waitakere NOW Home® site was 2448 kg.  Expressed in terms of the overall floor area (146m2), 16.8 kg/m2 was generated.  Domestic construction is believed to typically generate between 14.7 and 25.4 kg of waste per square metre, according to international studies reported in Residential Construction Waste Management: A Builder’s Field Guide, published by the US NAHB Research Center.

Photo: Robin Allison